1. Aunt Hannah sent new pencils to the Lambs. While I was looking at what else she sent one of the Lambs decided to sharpen the new pencils. He accidentally put the wrong end of the pencil in the electric sharpener. Ram tried to get the eraser out with no luck. We really go through pencil sharpeners and they aren't cheap. I got the idea to try to sharpen a pencil and try to get the eraser to shred to pieces. It worked! Problem solved.
2. We dyed Easter eggs today. I was so proud that the Lambs were on the picnic table doing the whole process by themselves while I was inside doing dishes. I told them when they were finished to let me know so I could take a picture. Except when I went to take a picture one of the eggs had a bad word written on it. There were lots of "Jesus is Risen" eggs and then this one. Only one Lamb knows how to spell so I knew who did it. I immediately took the shell off that egg and threw it away while the other Lambs asked why I was doing that. Note to self: Next year they need more supervision while dying eggs even though they are capable of doing it by themselves.
3. I'm not even sure exactly what happened, but one of the picture frames in our hallway got broken by the Lambs today. I have each Lamb picture in their own frame and they all match. Which means that if I can't repair this picture frame I need to buy 3 more to replace this one or they won't match any more. Big sigh.
Why are some days like this? I used to like being home all day on Wednesdays without any appointments or lessons, but now I am starting to dread it. I can't understand how this can all happen when it was warm and the Lambs were outside a long time today.
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Vision Therapy Evaluation #2
I don't think I ever took the time to write about Lamb 2's first evaluation with the doctor at the beginning of March. Perhaps some time I can go back and do that.
Yesterday Lamb 2 had his second evaluation. He goes to vision therapy twice a week. One time is one on one with a vision therapist. One time is on the computer with a therapist supervising. Every 2 months of therapy the Dr. evaluates his progress.
The first evaluation I wrote up 3 pages of documentation for the Dr. This seemed normal to me after teaching in the classroom; I was asked some times to document students for their doctors or therapists. The Dr. said he had never had a parent do that before. This evaluation I didn't plan to write anything up but my M-I-L suggested that I did so everything was discussed with the Dr. instead of wishing I said something after the appointment. This time my documentation was only one page.
After his evaluation I sat down and typed up notes for myself so that I can communicate with his occupational therapist better. Here are some of those notes about evaluation #2. This will make more sense to those of you that have children that have done similar therapy than it will to others.
1. ATNR is fully integrated! Hooray for being done with those exercises!
2. Duck/pigeon walk is improved but continue to work on this at OT and home.
3. Pattern block activity-Dr. showed a pattern with 3 blocks and asked Lamb 2 to flip the pattern or turn the pattern upside down. Lamb 2 could use lots of work on this.
4. Dr. did some bilateral integration-Dr. touched Lamb 2's right leg and left arm and told him to lift those. Lamb 2 should continue to work on this at OT.
5. OT should continue to work on fine motor to help Lamb 2 with piano and handwriting.
6. Dr. was pleased to see Lamb 2's piano theory book that Lamb 2 wrote the letters in the boxes the correct size.
7. OT should work on digital discrimination-one hand pick up one finger at a time when therapist points to that finger, then do with both hands, then do with hands folded, then do with hands folded and crossed. This will especially help with piano.
8. OT should focus on gross motor and fine motor and leave vision exercises for VT. VT moves quickly and by the time a message of what skill to work on would get to OT, Lamb 2 would probably have already mastered that skill and be working on the next skill.
9. Lamb 2's biggest problem is eye movement speed. All of his vision therapists and the Dr. have noticed this. VT will focus on this now.
10. Lamb 2 had improvements but the next evaluation will be at 8 year old standards vs. his current 7 year old standards. The biggest jump is between 7-8 years old. For example his reading numbers in vertical rows has improved to 30% at 7 year old standard. At 8 year old standard this same score would only be 1%.
11. Dr. was pleased with improvements especially such a noticeable difference in duck and pigeon walk and reading numbers at a 7 year old level. (It made doing duck and pigeon walk up and down our hallway almost daily worth it!) But Lamb 2 still has a lot to work on. Dr. really doesn't know when to predict when Lamb 2 will graduate from VT beccause some areas are so improved and other areas are still drastically behind where he should be at his age. Dr. thinks graduation from VT will happen this fall, but not sure when. We prepaid for 9 months of therapy so it is possible we need to pay for a few more months, but we'll deal with that when and if we need to.
12. Dr. really wants to see Lamb 2 reading Dr. Seuss level books soon because he is turning 8 and he is so eager to learn to read. He suggested daily reading with Lamb 2-beginning with Lamb 2 following along with parent reading and trying to get to the level of parent reads a page and then Lamb 2 reads a page. I had not done anything like this recently as I wanted to give him time to do VT before asking him to read. But I think Dr. is right and we NEED to squeeze in time to practice reading with Lamb 2 daily, not just do phonics and math. This will be important to continue this summer too. I do think Dr. is right that if we can get him to read some easy books it will increase his confidence.
Yesterday Lamb 2 had his second evaluation. He goes to vision therapy twice a week. One time is one on one with a vision therapist. One time is on the computer with a therapist supervising. Every 2 months of therapy the Dr. evaluates his progress.
The first evaluation I wrote up 3 pages of documentation for the Dr. This seemed normal to me after teaching in the classroom; I was asked some times to document students for their doctors or therapists. The Dr. said he had never had a parent do that before. This evaluation I didn't plan to write anything up but my M-I-L suggested that I did so everything was discussed with the Dr. instead of wishing I said something after the appointment. This time my documentation was only one page.
After his evaluation I sat down and typed up notes for myself so that I can communicate with his occupational therapist better. Here are some of those notes about evaluation #2. This will make more sense to those of you that have children that have done similar therapy than it will to others.
1. ATNR is fully integrated! Hooray for being done with those exercises!
2. Duck/pigeon walk is improved but continue to work on this at OT and home.
3. Pattern block activity-Dr. showed a pattern with 3 blocks and asked Lamb 2 to flip the pattern or turn the pattern upside down. Lamb 2 could use lots of work on this.
4. Dr. did some bilateral integration-Dr. touched Lamb 2's right leg and left arm and told him to lift those. Lamb 2 should continue to work on this at OT.
5. OT should continue to work on fine motor to help Lamb 2 with piano and handwriting.
6. Dr. was pleased to see Lamb 2's piano theory book that Lamb 2 wrote the letters in the boxes the correct size.
7. OT should work on digital discrimination-one hand pick up one finger at a time when therapist points to that finger, then do with both hands, then do with hands folded, then do with hands folded and crossed. This will especially help with piano.
8. OT should focus on gross motor and fine motor and leave vision exercises for VT. VT moves quickly and by the time a message of what skill to work on would get to OT, Lamb 2 would probably have already mastered that skill and be working on the next skill.
9. Lamb 2's biggest problem is eye movement speed. All of his vision therapists and the Dr. have noticed this. VT will focus on this now.
10. Lamb 2 had improvements but the next evaluation will be at 8 year old standards vs. his current 7 year old standards. The biggest jump is between 7-8 years old. For example his reading numbers in vertical rows has improved to 30% at 7 year old standard. At 8 year old standard this same score would only be 1%.
11. Dr. was pleased with improvements especially such a noticeable difference in duck and pigeon walk and reading numbers at a 7 year old level. (It made doing duck and pigeon walk up and down our hallway almost daily worth it!) But Lamb 2 still has a lot to work on. Dr. really doesn't know when to predict when Lamb 2 will graduate from VT beccause some areas are so improved and other areas are still drastically behind where he should be at his age. Dr. thinks graduation from VT will happen this fall, but not sure when. We prepaid for 9 months of therapy so it is possible we need to pay for a few more months, but we'll deal with that when and if we need to.
12. Dr. really wants to see Lamb 2 reading Dr. Seuss level books soon because he is turning 8 and he is so eager to learn to read. He suggested daily reading with Lamb 2-beginning with Lamb 2 following along with parent reading and trying to get to the level of parent reads a page and then Lamb 2 reads a page. I had not done anything like this recently as I wanted to give him time to do VT before asking him to read. But I think Dr. is right and we NEED to squeeze in time to practice reading with Lamb 2 daily, not just do phonics and math. This will be important to continue this summer too. I do think Dr. is right that if we can get him to read some easy books it will increase his confidence.
Monday, April 28, 2014
Happy Birthday, Ram!
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| Ram's birthday was yesterday. Lamb 3 remarked that Ram was lucky to pick the hymns for his birthday-the pastor always picks the hymns with help from the members! I volunteered to bring treats for Fellowship Time in honor of his birthday. I did not know when I volunteered that the preschool children would be singing in church and there would be many visitors to also feed. I made one pan of gluten free brownies, and one cake mix each of yellow and chocolate cupcakes. I brought one box of small donut holes and chocolate chip cookies from the bakery and a big bowl of huge strawberries. I brought home a few strawberries, cupcakes, and about half a pan of brownies. I found it humorous that they ate every one of the store bought treats and not all the homemade ones. My sister made the flags for the cupcakes. A visitor asked if we did Fellowship Time every week. I didn't know how to answer that question-we do have treats after church but not usually as much as I brought yesterday. |
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| After about a month of beautiful weather and even sleeping with the windows open a few nights, we have had a rainy cold week. I never expected snow predicted here the end of April. I don't know if we actually got snow because it was supposed to come in the middle of the night, but we did get the rain. Our area needs rain so we don't complain when we get it. |
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| In the afternoon we went to the garden center and bought a few more plants for our yard. Rain yesterday meant that we got a 25% discount. I doubt when they made these flyers up they expected Boise to have so many rainy days where they had to give the bigger discount. When we went in the late afternoon it was sunny and nice but it had rained earlier in the day so we got the rain discount. Ram's parents plan to visit to celebrate Ram's birthday in a few weeks and they will also celebrate Lamb 2's birthday early. Ram opened a few presents from my sister and homemade cards from the Lambs. My sister and both sets of parents called Ram yesterday. We did have most of his birthday meals and plan to have the rest soon. He enjoyed a break from cooking some of his favorite meals. Breakfast: fried eggs and bacon Lunch: egg salad Supper: meatloaf, sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts Snack: sweet and salty popcorn Dessert: He requested peanut butter cookies, but we'll finish the leftover sweets from Fellowship Time first. |
Saturday, April 26, 2014
Prom
Holy Saturday was Prom time here. I'm not sure exactly which schools had Prom. We first saw some people dressed up down the street from us. We couldn't figure out why people would be dressed up the day before Easter. Then we went to an event downtown to walk around a little. There was a group of 3 couples dressed up taking pictures around town. I'm not sure if one of the dads was taking the pictures or if it was a professional photographer. Boy have times changed vs. taking a few pictures in the front yard before my Prom. Then we figured out why Ram had a difficult time finding me a corsage for my Easter dress.
As we drove by people taking pictures for Prom, I thought that if I was a parent of a high school student going to Prom, I would have been disgusted with the scheduling of Prom on Holy Saturday. I understand that Easter was later this year than normal and schools need to schedule it some time. When I went to Prom, my parents still expected me to go to church on Sunday morning. That was one thing to go to church after Prom and then go back to bed for the rest of the day. It would be another thing to go to church on Easter Sunday after Prom. Our church does not have Easter Vigil services, but we really hope in the future that they do. I could just imagine the dilemma, do they go to Easter Vigil service first and then go to Prom? Plus I can picture our Lambs being very involved with music in our services as they are older so skipping these high feast services would not be an option.
Seeing the people dressed up started a conversation with the Lambs about Prom. We don't know if they will still be homeschooled when they are in high school. Even if they are there is a possibility that one of their friends will ask them to go as friends to a local Prom. Lamb 2 immediately started thinking of who he knew around his age that might be a possible Prom date. Lamb 1 immediately said there was no way he was ever going to Prom. He said it would be a waste of money. I said that usually the boy pays if he asks the girl to Prom but if they go as friends they each pay their own way. He said either paying for both or just paying for himself would waste his money plus he didn't want to go to a dance. Lamb 3 stayed out of the conversation, that is the way he is-he will see what happens by then, he isn't worried about Prom today.
As we drove by people taking pictures for Prom, I thought that if I was a parent of a high school student going to Prom, I would have been disgusted with the scheduling of Prom on Holy Saturday. I understand that Easter was later this year than normal and schools need to schedule it some time. When I went to Prom, my parents still expected me to go to church on Sunday morning. That was one thing to go to church after Prom and then go back to bed for the rest of the day. It would be another thing to go to church on Easter Sunday after Prom. Our church does not have Easter Vigil services, but we really hope in the future that they do. I could just imagine the dilemma, do they go to Easter Vigil service first and then go to Prom? Plus I can picture our Lambs being very involved with music in our services as they are older so skipping these high feast services would not be an option.
Seeing the people dressed up started a conversation with the Lambs about Prom. We don't know if they will still be homeschooled when they are in high school. Even if they are there is a possibility that one of their friends will ask them to go as friends to a local Prom. Lamb 2 immediately started thinking of who he knew around his age that might be a possible Prom date. Lamb 1 immediately said there was no way he was ever going to Prom. He said it would be a waste of money. I said that usually the boy pays if he asks the girl to Prom but if they go as friends they each pay their own way. He said either paying for both or just paying for himself would waste his money plus he didn't want to go to a dance. Lamb 3 stayed out of the conversation, that is the way he is-he will see what happens by then, he isn't worried about Prom today.
Thursday, April 24, 2014
What the Lambs think about marriage
*We have spoken to the Lambs about spouses of the people they know by calling them sweeties. This has postponed conversations with the Lambs about unmarried or divorced couples which has been very helpful as part of a pastor's family. It also helped when they knew one member at church, but not that member's spouse. For example: Your Sunday School teacher's sweetie. Plus it makes me smile to think of couples married over 50 years as sweeties.
1. When we listened to Tom Sawyer, there is a chapter where Tom has a discussion with his friends if they want to get married when they grow up. The consensus for Tom and his friends is they don't want to get married because married couples just fight a lot. I asked the Lambs about what they thought of that. Lamb 2 immediately answered, "Why would I fight with my sweetie?" It made me happy that he doesn't think married couples fight.
2. We raised caterpillars and are ready to release the butterflies but the weather hasn't cooperated for release- it has been rainy, cold, and windy. I am just hoping that we don't have to raise more butterflies because we are delaying the release. Lamb 1 said he thinks he knows which ones are male because he thinks some of them have brighter colors than other ones. I don't see that, but he does. Lamb 2 said he thinks he knows which ones are males because they fly around the cage more. Lamb 2 said, "Boys are always looking for a sweetie." I expect both Lamb 1 and 2 are right in more ways than they realize.
1. When we listened to Tom Sawyer, there is a chapter where Tom has a discussion with his friends if they want to get married when they grow up. The consensus for Tom and his friends is they don't want to get married because married couples just fight a lot. I asked the Lambs about what they thought of that. Lamb 2 immediately answered, "Why would I fight with my sweetie?" It made me happy that he doesn't think married couples fight.
2. We raised caterpillars and are ready to release the butterflies but the weather hasn't cooperated for release- it has been rainy, cold, and windy. I am just hoping that we don't have to raise more butterflies because we are delaying the release. Lamb 1 said he thinks he knows which ones are male because he thinks some of them have brighter colors than other ones. I don't see that, but he does. Lamb 2 said he thinks he knows which ones are males because they fly around the cage more. Lamb 2 said, "Boys are always looking for a sweetie." I expect both Lamb 1 and 2 are right in more ways than they realize.
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Grandma's flowers
My dad's mom had one request for her funeral. She wanted the Nebraska state flower on top of her casket. That meant she was requesting goldenrod for the top of her casket. My parents couldn't believe she wanted that on top of her casket, isn't that what everyone is allergic to? It turns out that many people are allergic to ragweed, which is different from goldenrod but blooms around the same time so people blame goldenrod.
I was unable to attend Grandma's funeral. She died in the winter a few years ago so it was impossible for the florist to fulfill her request, but they were able to find some silk flowers that looked similar to goldenrod. After the funeral the silk flowers ended up at my parents house.
Last summer my parents came to visit us and brought my great aunt's cedar chest to me. The silk flowers were in the cedar chest and my parents didn't know what to do with them so the flowers came to me too. Soon after their visit I took them to a lady at church and asked if she could use something like that as she is a wedding planner.
On Easter morning I was surprised to see this arrangement on top of the organ at church. We have a small altar area but she tries to put silk arrangements around the organ area especially for the Easter season. She used grandma's silk goldenrod (I think it is actually forsythia) and combined it with other flowers she had. I have no talent to arrange flowers. I am not a big flower person, especially if the flowers are silk. But the symbolism of the resurrection when I will see all my loved ones in heaven again meant a lot to me when I saw those flowers again on Easter Sunday. It was extra special because I didn't know she was going to do this when I gave them to her last summer and then I didn't see them again until Easter.
I was unable to attend Grandma's funeral. She died in the winter a few years ago so it was impossible for the florist to fulfill her request, but they were able to find some silk flowers that looked similar to goldenrod. After the funeral the silk flowers ended up at my parents house.
Last summer my parents came to visit us and brought my great aunt's cedar chest to me. The silk flowers were in the cedar chest and my parents didn't know what to do with them so the flowers came to me too. Soon after their visit I took them to a lady at church and asked if she could use something like that as she is a wedding planner.
On Easter morning I was surprised to see this arrangement on top of the organ at church. We have a small altar area but she tries to put silk arrangements around the organ area especially for the Easter season. She used grandma's silk goldenrod (I think it is actually forsythia) and combined it with other flowers she had. I have no talent to arrange flowers. I am not a big flower person, especially if the flowers are silk. But the symbolism of the resurrection when I will see all my loved ones in heaven again meant a lot to me when I saw those flowers again on Easter Sunday. It was extra special because I didn't know she was going to do this when I gave them to her last summer and then I didn't see them again until Easter.
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
He is Risen!
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